Stone Cold Seduction (18 page)

Guilt shot through me.

Teryl must have noticed my expression, because he added, “It’s okay. Hearing her voice helped. She sounded good. I just needed to hear her voice. I’ll fly over to see her when we get this cleared up. I’ll make it work.”

I rubbed his shoulder and forced my guilt down. “Thank God. I was worried about her, too.”

We finished our food in silence, and Teryl held up his watch. “We’ve got about thirty minutes left. Want to talk about whatever the hell you did with the fire?”

I’d almost forgotten about that. “Not really. But are you going to give me a choice?”

Teryl held up fingers as he listed my abilities. “Shadowing, mind control, fire. What else could happen?”

Jax grabbed the food wrappers and tossed them into the nearest waste basket. “I’m not sure. Let’s hope Carys will be willing to divulge more information.”

“There’s something that still doesn’t make sense to me,” Teryl said. “What if Jedren doesn’t know Elle’s fate? I can’t believe he would have written her off if he’d known what she was capable of. She’d be an asset to him, and he’d use her to his advantage.”

“Maybe he does know,” I said. “I don’t remember one way or the other.”

“If Jedren does know, there’s a reason he kept your fate from you, but there’s a good possibility it didn’t mention anything about your potential. I doubt he would have alienated you if he knew of your abilities. We’ll have to wait and talk to Carys.”

A female voice announced our plane was boarding, so I sighed. “Okay. I’ll do more reading on the plane, and we can hope Carys will tell me more.” Our next flight was heading for London. I hoped to do a little reading and a lot of sleeping, if I was lucky. I doubted I’d get much sleep once we got to Scotland. I could feel tension creeping along my shoulders and neck already.

As soon as the plane began to lumber down the runway, Jax tensed as his fear of flying kicked in. I held his hand and tried to distract him. “Why Maura?”

The tension that thrummed through him shifted in an instant. “What do you mean?”

“What made you choose her when you already had a mate?”

“As I said earlier, you were engaged to the phoenix. I was angry. She was available. It was short-lived.”

“Seven months isn’t short,” I said. “Seven days or seven hours, that’s short. But seven months is a long time.”

His hand tightened around mine for a moment. “I was angry for most of it. I wasn’t fully present. We weren’t interested in each other’s minds. As relationships go, it was superficial. I didn’t care about her, and I doubt she cared about me. Hunters don’t make good mates because they’re emotionally detached by nature. Which is why it only worked for a short time.”

I could understand that. If I were in his shoes, I probably wouldn’t have waited around, either. I squeezed his hand back. “What’s your favorite color?”

He blinked at the quick subject change. “My favorite color? Blue. The color of your eyes.”

I felt a blush stain my cheeks. “Flattery will get you everywhere. What about your favorite food?”

I could see some of his tension beginning to ease. “Anything I don’t have to make myself. Why?”

“A mate should know these things.”

Teryl had been studiously ignoring us and writing on his paper. He tapped it with his pen a few times. “Found them.”

“Who?”

“The other hunters. Maura didn’t make it out of the airport. If I had to guess, I would say she’s booking another flight as we speak. You kind of screwed up her first one,” he said with a smile.

I peeked at his paper and couldn’t make sense of his notes. “How did you find them?”

“I’m an oracle.”

Pissed off by his flip reply, I retorted, “I know that, thank you very much. I meant, how did you find them? What do you actually do, Mr. Oracle?”

“This is my magic. I can get a sense of where they are, then I have to figure out their coordinates. Sort of like an internal GPS. Sometimes there’s a delay, or a blip in the system, but usually I can pinpoint their location to within thirty minutes or so.”

“How close are the others?”

Teryl made a few notations, then double-checked his paper. “Falon is almost to Nevada. Altair is outside of New York, maybe even over the Atlantic, and Blythe is already in England. MacLean’s on a plane now, following us to London.”

I was equal parts relieved and freaked. At least they weren’t on the plane with us. Wait… “What about Luke?”

Teryl frowned. “He’s with Jedren at the Seattle office. I think.”

“What do you mean, you think?” Jax asked, his deep voice lowering an octave.

“They’re really unclear. Jedren might be blocking, so I can’t say for sure where they’re at.”

I leaned back in my seat and took a few deep breaths. Worrying about where Luke was wouldn’t do me much good. Especially when he could so easily…

I put up a huge mental wall. I had to stop thinking like that.

“I’m going to try and get some sleep.”

Neither man argued. Teryl went back to making notes, and Jax pulled out an iPod.

I slept fitfully for five hours. Strange dreams and visions curled through my mind, making truly restful sleep impossible. They alternated between Luke and Maura chasing me, and a variety of faceless hunters. When my dreams turned to visions of Jax and Maura, I decided sleep wasn’t worth it.

I sat up and grabbed the little book Teryl had given me. I didn’t want to sift through the ramblings anymore. “Do you have any others?” I asked, as I handed it back to him.

He dug in his carry-on and handed me another book without a word. This one was titled
Gargoyles
. Well, at least I didn’t have to guess at the content. Teryl flashed a wicked grin when I ran my finger across the embossed title.

“I figured some of the information might be useful for you.” He nudged my side.

I shook my head, trying not to smile. He was such a smart ass sometimes. The book in my lap was about the same size as the other, and dark red in color. I opened to the first page and settled in for the rest of the flight. Hopefully, I’d find some juicy details.

Chapter Twelve

Knowing there were two hunters in London was worse than not knowing they existed.

I jumped every time I brushed against another traveler rushing by. Every face looked suspicious. Every voice put me on edge, and as my anxiety increased, they became a blur. I could see why oracles went nuts, trying to locate people. This was exhausting.

“Can I just shadow us through the airport to our next gate? Would that save time?”
And stress
, I thought, as I looked around.

Teryl looked thoughtful. “Maybe…”

“No.” Jax stopped dead in his tracks. “Bad idea. We don’t know how long you can shadow, and we don’t yet know your limits. Let’s not press our luck.”

“Jax, I’m willing to take the chance if—”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him. “I’m not. I’m not willing to take that chance. Not with you.”

Oh. My cheeks heated with a combination of embarrassment and pleasure. Okay, then.

Still, there had to be a better way to make our gate. This was too much suspense for me. I was worried that a hunter would jump out from behind a garbage can or around a corner at any time.

Teryl took hold of my other arm and tugged in the opposite direction. “Jax is right. No shadowing. Let’s get coffee.”

Jax let go, and Teryl steered me over to a little coffee shop inside the terminal, and pushed me into a seat. Jax stood guard over me.

“We have five hours to kill.” Teryl cringed. “Bad choice of words. We have five hours before our next flight leaves for Inverness. Let’s relax.”

“How close is Altair?” Jax asked, as he scanned the crowd. His eyes glowed silver, and I worried he would attract attention. I wanted to blend in as best we could.

I noticed a blonde woman waiting in line for coffee giving his butt an appreciative once over. She had good taste, but a thread of jealousy began to unfurl in my stomach. Jax was taken. My glare burned a hole in her back. She finally noticed my look and turned away in a huff. Jax attracted all sorts of attention, no matter what he did.

“Elle, are you listening?” Teryl waved a hand in front of my face.

“Yeah, sorry.” I threw one last glare at the blonde and turned in my seat so I could face Teryl.

He put his paper on the table so we could all see it. He pointed to various spots on the crudely drawn map. “Blythe is still at her flat, which is at least an hour from here. Altair is still in the airport. I can’t tell how close. Jax, how does he hunt?”

“Sight,” Jax said. “All phoenix have amazing sight during the day, but his will be the sharpest. And he’ll be able to see our magical signatures.” His words were clipped, and he sounded pissed as he continued to scan the crowd.

“A magical signature,” I repeated. “You mean like an aura?”

“Yes, something like that.” Jax stood up abruptly. “I’ll be right back.”

Watching him walk away, I noticed a pain in my chest. The farther he got, the more painful it was. It felt like my heart was being pulled out of my chest. I rubbed my chest to ease the ache and looked at Teryl when Jax was out of view. “Teryl, is there an actual bond between mates? A physical one?”

“There can be. It’s different with every line. For Clio and me, it’s a mental bond. When we marry and go through our ceremony, we’ll have that type of connection.”

I smiled, despite my discomfort. “You mean you can have secret conversations? Sort of like your own version of ESP?”

He laughed. “That, too. I’ll always know where she’s at and what she’s feeling. Our bond will strengthen our abilities a little. I would guess because gargoyles were born from the earth, so to speak, theirs would be a physical, more grounded bond.”

“But you don’t have that connection until after the ceremony? Or does it start as soon as you know who your mate is?”

“No, it doesn’t start immediately for oracles.” He ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up. “Once we meet our mate, we know it. It’s like a sixth sense. But the connection is established during the ceremony, not before. That’s why the ceremony is so important for every line.”

He stared at me closely, looking for what, I didn’t know. “Why, do you feel something right now?”

I glanced around and didn’t see Jax. With a sigh, I nodded. “Yes. It’s not exactly comfortable. And it just started today. I don’t feel his emotions or anything, just the sensation of my heart being pulled.”

Teryl smiled, so I smiled back. His smile had always been contagious.

“What’s that look for?” I asked, when he kept smiling without speaking.

“I’d say you started the ceremony.”

My smile disappeared. “What makes you think that?”

He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands over his stomach, looking far more relaxed than I felt. “You wouldn’t feel the bond, physically, unless you’d started the ceremony.”

I stopped rubbing the area underneath my collarbone. “It must be indigestion then. Because we didn’t start any ceremony.”

Teryl’s eyes widened along with his smile. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. I went to his apartment, we had dinner, then I fell asleep. Unless take-out is part of their ceremony, I’m sure we didn’t start it.”

“You never know.” His gaze drifted over my shoulder. His smile disappeared in an instant. “Shit.”

My head whipped around, and my heart sank. Jax walked back to our table with someone in tow. Altair. It had to be. I couldn’t see, smell, or taste magic, but somehow, I knew it was him.

Tall and lean, his build reminded me of MacLean. His hair was a dark blonde and had strands that looked like spun gold. It was long and pulled into a ponytail at the base of his neck. He had a sharp, hawked nose, and while he wasn’t handsome in the classic sense, he was striking.

As they approached our table, I saw his nostrils flare and his gaze zero in on me.

I froze. He held me with his gaze, and for a few seconds, I couldn’t move.

As he got closer, I noticed his eyes were the same color as his hair. Just like MacLean. It must be a phoenix trait. He stared at me with an intensity that unnerved me, like he was uncovering my secrets with just a look. I felt emotionally naked.

I saw a flash and spark in his eyes, like a fire starting. One thing I could say about the phoenix and gargoyles, their eyes gave some warning to their emotions. Which was both good and bad. The warning was nice, but seeing it coming didn’t always make it easier to deal with. The fire in Altair’s eyes gave me the impression I was staring at one of the circles of hell.

“Elleodora Fredricks.” His voice rasped in a way that sent chills along my spine. From the power that vibrated along his words, or from my unease, I couldn’t tell. “This is the woman who has caused such a stir.”

I cleared my throat twice, and took a quick sip of coffee before saying, “Not on purpose.” I don’t know why I defended myself. I wasn’t happy Jax had waltzed the hunter right over to us. I hoped he knew what he was doing.

“So Jax tells me. Why should I believe him?”

I fidgeted under Altair’s piercing gaze. Those amber eyes belonged on a huge bird of prey. Not in the face of a human.

I took a deep breath. “I’m trying to find my fate. That’s all. I didn’t take the shadow elf souls.”

He cocked his head and watched me. “What about the others? There are many missing. The lines are angry. Very angry. As is the Council.”

I heard the warning in his words loud and clear, although his expression stayed blank. It seemed to be a trademark of the hunters. Blank face, cold eyes.

“Every single one that I accidentally had in my possession is on its way to the Council.” At least that’s where I hoped MacLean planned to take them.

“Accidentally,” I repeated. “As soon as I found out what they were, I returned them. So, how about you don’t kill me over it?”

Altair was silent for a minute, watching, weighing. His strange, gold eyes flickered. Finally, he turned his head and shifted that intense stare to Jax. “I can’t tell what she is. She smells like shadow elf and more. Something I’ve never encountered. The Council won’t like that. If she’s a danger, I can’t let her leave. You know that.”

When Jax remained silent, Altair exhaled. He sounded a little weary. “Have you gone soft, old friend?”

Soft? What was he talking about? I could personally guarantee that there was nothing soft about Jax. Anywhere.

All joking aside, it made me uneasy that Jax seemed to know so many of the hunters. Were they all old friends?

I sucked in a sharp breath when I heard Jax say, “I know they won’t like it, but I ask for your discretion for the time being. I will vouch for her. I don’t think she’s a danger.”

Altair considered Jax. “What are you not telling me?”

“I’ve told you everything of importance. The rest does not concern you or the Council.” He bared his teeth to make his point.

I noticed his eyes were gray with only an occasional flash of silver. Even so, I couldn’t seem to relax. I caught the undercurrents, but I had no idea what they were really talking about.

Altair offered a closed-lipped smile and slapped a hand on Jax’s shoulder. “I trust you’ll do the right thing, if need be.” Again, his voice held a warning note.

Jax hesitated, then gave him a curt nod.

Apparently satisfied, Altair smiled at me. It was not a nice smile. “Watch yourself, Elleodora Fredricks. I only give my trust once. Don’t abuse it.” And with those cryptic words, he walked off.

I didn’t ask for your trust.
I watched his golden head disappear into the crowd.

I released the shaky breath I’d been holding. “What was that all about?” I asked Teryl, who looked just as confused as I felt. He only shrugged, and sipped his coffee.

“Jax?”

He wouldn’t look at me. “Drink your coffee, gem. We have a long day ahead.”

Okay, I’d had it.

“Are you kidding me? You not only bring the hunter
to meet me
, but you also exchange a few mysterious words with him, then expect to pat me on the head and tell me to drink my coffee like a good little girl? Do you think I’m that much of an idiot?”

Wide silver eyes met mine. “Of course not. Why would you say that?”

“Because you assume I miss the undercurrent of everything you’re
not
saying. I might not remember much, but I’m not stupid. Stop treating me like I am.” Anger put a hitch in my breath. It was
my
life on the line, damn it.

Teryl and Jax stared at me as if they’d never seen me before.

“Little gem…”

I pointed a finger at Jax. “Don’t. Don’t you
‘little gem’
me. I deserve to know what in the hell is going on.”

Jax sighed and rubbed a hand along his chin. “There are things you don’t understand.”

I stood up, pushing my chair away with a screech of its metal legs on restaurant tile. I leaned over the table and hissed, “You know, if you bothered to clue me in, maybe I would understand. Maybe you could explain to me why you brought a hunter to me. And here I thought we were
running from them!
Do you think any of this is easy for me?” I wanted to scream in frustration. “I need some space. I’m going to go for a walk.”

“Elle.” Teryl stood up, too.

“No. Just…no.” I grabbed my coffee and started walking. I didn’t even care where I was going. I needed to be alone.

I was relieved they didn’t try to follow. Then again, if Jax felt even a fraction of the pull that I did, he’d know where I was. With each step I took, I reminded myself to breathe and ignore the pull. My anger provided the distraction I needed. Rounding a corner, I spied an empty bench and sat.

People rushed by, trying to catch their flights. Others greeted loved ones. They rolled their suitcases and herded their children. In the space of a few days, my life had spun out of control, while these people continued on with the courses of their normal lives.

I was being hunted like a damned criminal. The familiar, dreaded pitch of my stomach made me sick, and I closed my eyes. I inhaled slowly through my nose, then exhaled through my mouth.